Can you hear that scraping noise? That’s me dragging my soap box to centre stage. Please don’t be alarmed and please don’t stop reading now because in the next five minutes you could learn how not donating to the Red Cross could save someone’s life.

I spend a large amount of my time post-disaster speaking on the phone with people who tell me that they don’t just want to donate money but they want to do more. They have medical items, clothes or food to give instead. People sometimes get cross or upset when I turn down their well meant offer. And that’s the point; their offer is genuinely well intentioned. They just aren’t aware of the reasons why the Red Cross can’t take these goods. Unfortunately I don’t always have the time to fully explain why. Last Friday I spent more than half a day taking such calls for Haiti, even with a bevy of volunteers helping me. When really I should have been chartering an aircraft to deliver blankets and jerry cans to Port au Prince.

First let me debunk a couple of myths, starting with the principle that “anything is better than nothing”. Trust me, it’s
not. Relieving suffering should be guided solely by need and not what people have to donate. Humanitarian aid should also ‘do no harm’. Quite a lot of harm is done when unwanted and unneeded fresh food items rot in piles at the airports and seaports, stopping medicines and blankets getting through.

Secondly, we don’t own planes. We pay for commercial air freight like anyone else would. And it’s expensive. That’s why we don’t fly blankets and jerry cans out from the UK. We buy and store them in countries close to where disasters happen so that it’s faster and cheaper to get them to where they are needed. We hold stocks for several thousand families so that we are ready to go 24/7. As soon as we can, we start to buy the rest that’s need from the affected country or its neighbours. In particular food, soap and where feasible, medicines. These items will be to local taste, will give a much need monetary boost to the economy and the transportation costs will be lower. The savings made can be used to buy more aid.

Unwanted donations create chaos, waste and confusion for an already stricken country. The risks are spiralling costs or actual threats to its people, environment and industry. For example local shop owners, who may have lost family members and their home then find their business crumbling as food or clothing aid is imported.

Storage space is scarce in every post-disaster setting. A huge influx of goods needs to be housed somewhere. In Banda Aceh after the Tsunami, health centres had to sacrifice patient’s rooms to store inappropriate drugs. The irony is that the medicines sent in to help people instead reduced the number of sick people who could access treatment. Pharmaceuticals are very sensitive to light, heat and humidity. If they are not stored in proper conditions, at best they lose some of their effectiveness, at worst they become completely useless. You have no way of know where they have been and you can’t tell just by looking if these items are still going to work.

Medicines not recognised by local doctors could lead to fatal doses being prescribed. Patients face a bewildering and ever changing array of pills in different boxes and with different amounts to be taken. Often the packaging and instruction leaflet is in a foreign language. The chance of accidently overdosing is very real. Also if the quality of the drugs or equipment is not acceptable for the UK then it is also not acceptable for Haiti.

Drugs that are not required, those that have expired or have no expiry date have to be destroyed. Incineration is preferred as this prevents the hazard of land filled medicines contaminating water supplies or drugs being collected and sold on the black market. In Eritrea after the war of independence, seven truckloads of expired aspirin took six months to burn. The real tragedy is the cost of this process. In the Venezuela floods in 2000, seventy percent of donated pharmaceuticals had to be destroyed. To be able to cover this cost, a support line to provide psychological support to the survivors had to be shut down.

Imagine you have to help 10,000 families put up aid tents. What would you do? I would probably train a handful of volunteers how to put up said tent and get them out training others. Now what would you do if every single one of those tents was different? Replace the word tent with the following: incubator, water pump, dialysis machine. With these items you will also have maintenance and spare parts. We standardise items and put them in our catalogue for a reason. Efficiency and effectiveness are key to what we do.

I do understand that people want to help. The British Red Cross has capacity to help others due to the generosity of the British public and we are deeply grateful for their support. But when we ask for money it is because, for us, the best way to help those people directly affected by the disaster. Your money will pay for life saving items, and the trucks and planes to get them there, and the ERU teams on the ground handing them out. If you do have any saleable items, like clothing or books then please donate them to the Red Cross shops and the money raised will also support our work.

I have one more favour to ask. Could you please get just another person you know to read this blog. The more people who can understand the down side of unsolicited goods, the less chance there is of this stuff cluttering up the aid effort. And the fewer phone calls I will have to take to explain individually why we can’t accept the offer. Then I can get on with the practical side of helping the Haitian people, which is, let’s face it, what all of us want to do. Right, I’ll step away from the soap box now, thanks for listening.

109 Comments

JanetJan 18, 2010 @ 10:31:00

Excellent blog Claire, well done.
I too have found myself trying to explain similar in the past and know the concept can be frustrating for those who wish to help to get their heads around. I have already emailed the link to your blog to all my local colleagues and will be using it as a reference tool in case anyone ever offers up goods in the future.

Excellent blog Claire, well done.
I too have found myself trying to explain similar in the past and know the concept can be frustrating for those who wish to help to get their heads around. I have already emailed the link to your blog to all my local colleagues and will be using it as a reference tool in case anyone ever offers up goods in the future.

Hi Janet, I think there’s a lot of us out there facing the same frustrations. And the thing is as soon as you explain the reasons to someone they totally get it. It’s just slow going one phone call at a time. Thanks for sending this on and spreading the word.

Hi Janet, I think there’s a lot of us out there facing the same frustrations. And the thing is as soon as you explain the reasons to someone they totally get it. It’s just slow going one phone call at a time. Thanks for sending this on and spreading the word.

This is a superb explanation as to why the Red Cross asks for money and does not accept donated goods. It is hard to get this message out and refusal of goods sometimes leaves members of the public feeling bitter and creates an “ant-aid organisation” feeling. So bravo Claire for this. I will certainly send this link out too.

This is a superb explanation as to why the Red Cross asks for money and does not accept donated goods. It is hard to get this message out and refusal of goods sometimes leaves members of the public feeling bitter and creates an “ant-aid organisation” feeling. So bravo Claire for this. I will certainly send this link out too.

Thanks Cathy. I hope it’s taking in the spirit that I intended, that is informative rather than critical. We can’t do what we do without people willing to step up and say “I want to help, what can I do?” and I don’t ever want to discourage that.

Thanks Cathy. I hope it’s taking in the spirit that I intended, that is informative rather than critical. We can’t do what we do without people willing to step up and say “I want to help, what can I do?” and I don’t ever want to discourage that.

Claire, Could you please elaborate – do you not welcome donations from big organisations like eg Pepsi in the form of food, bottled water etc? Or are you talking about individual donations here. Presumably these organisations would liaise with charities rather than dumping unwelcome goods on you. I’d love to know. Thank you.

Claire, Could you please elaborate – do you not welcome donations from big organisations like eg Pepsi in the form of food, bottled water etc? Or are you talking about individual donations here. Presumably these organisations would liaise with charities rather than dumping unwelcome goods on you. I’d love to know. Thank you.

Hi Juliette, that is a very good question. We can and have taken donations from large companies.

The advantage of that kind of offer is that they can provide very large numbers of the same kind of product so that we have standardisation of the goods being given out to the people in need.

You are very right when you say that these organisation liaise with us and we will only take items that we need. For example in 2007 we were the Tesco Charity of the year and Tesco provided us with goods for the food and hygiene parcels delivered to people affected by the Gloucester floods. The goods donated matches the needs we had identified.

We also get large monetary donations from an number of big organisations which we use to deploy the ERU teams and release prepositioned stocks from our warehouse.

Hi Juliette, that is a very good question. We can and have taken donations from large companies.

The advantage of that kind of offer is that they can provide very large numbers of the same kind of product so that we have standardisation of the goods being given out to the people in need.

You are very right when you say that these organisation liaise with us and we will only take items that we need. For example in 2007 we were the Tesco Charity of the year and Tesco provided us with goods for the food and hygiene parcels delivered to people affected by the Gloucester floods. The goods donated matches the needs we had identified.

We also get large monetary donations from an number of big organisations which we use to deploy the ERU teams and release prepositioned stocks from our warehouse.

Claire,
Thank you so much for replying to me. I’d be further interested to know – there is heated debate about whether infant formula constitutes a desirable donation in these circumstances? Does the Red Cross accept formula from big organisations? Thanks again

Claire,
Thank you so much for replying to me. I’d be further interested to know – there is heated debate about whether infant formula constitutes a desirable donation in these circumstances? Does the Red Cross accept formula from big organisations? Thanks again

Thanks claire
Yes i am glad you pointed this out, why should people want our rubbish, left over, waste or excess. They have the right to the dignity of having their true needs met. You have explained clearly where the money goes and we could all do with consuming less and sending the money from what we don’t spend to where it is needed. I think the same at christmas instead of buying tons of useless toiletries we could donate to fund such as red cross and DEC so they can get appropriate resources where needed.
How is the activity of the red cross and DEc monitored and how do they demonstrate that they are asking the right questions and listening to the people?
I was in kenya in the 80’s and their maize crop was low one year and the us sent tons of their cornmeal as aid, it was often out of date and inappropriate as it was difficult to cook and digest as it was an entirely different kind or corn and was rancid in many cases. what would have been more helpful would have been aid from them to buy maize from neighbouring countries and it probaly would have been cheaper than shipping food across such a distance.
Thank you for taking time to think and read!
blessing to all for hope of a fair world
belinda french

Thanks claire
Yes i am glad you pointed this out, why should people want our rubbish, left over, waste or excess. They have the right to the dignity of having their true needs met. You have explained clearly where the money goes and we could all do with consuming less and sending the money from what we don’t spend to where it is needed. I think the same at christmas instead of buying tons of useless toiletries we could donate to fund such as red cross and DEC so they can get appropriate resources where needed.
How is the activity of the red cross and DEc monitored and how do they demonstrate that they are asking the right questions and listening to the people?
I was in kenya in the 80’s and their maize crop was low one year and the us sent tons of their cornmeal as aid, it was often out of date and inappropriate as it was difficult to cook and digest as it was an entirely different kind or corn and was rancid in many cases. what would have been more helpful would have been aid from them to buy maize from neighbouring countries and it probaly would have been cheaper than shipping food across such a distance.
Thank you for taking time to think and read!
blessing to all for hope of a fair world
belinda french

In the weeks and months to come the Haitian earthquake will slowly fade away. The news organizations will leave and move on to the next “story”. We will feel good that we contributed what we could, and then we will quickly shift our attention back to our own busy lives. But in Haiti the horror will still be unfolding. Without homes or jobs, with family members dead and dying, with the country in ruins, they will struggle just to stay alive. We need to make a long term commitment to those whose lives have been decimated. The best way to help would be to make a monthly contribution to an organization that is committed to helping Haiti long after the TV cameras are gone. With a steady flow of aid, instead of just an influx of money at the time of a disaster, we can begin to raise their standard of living. This in turn will help them withstand the next crisis without such a staggering loss of life.

In the weeks and months to come the Haitian earthquake will slowly fade away. The news organizations will leave and move on to the next “story”. We will feel good that we contributed what we could, and then we will quickly shift our attention back to our own busy lives. But in Haiti the horror will still be unfolding. Without homes or jobs, with family members dead and dying, with the country in ruins, they will struggle just to stay alive. We need to make a long term commitment to those whose lives have been decimated. The best way to help would be to make a monthly contribution to an organization that is committed to helping Haiti long after the TV cameras are gone. With a steady flow of aid, instead of just an influx of money at the time of a disaster, we can begin to raise their standard of living. This in turn will help them withstand the next crisis without such a staggering loss of life.

Thank you for this article. I find it very frustrating trying explain this issue to people who quite frankly think I want to make things worse for the victims. I will be sharing this. Just a thought, could leaflets be distributed to people who you need to explain this to. I know it would be costly but may well be worth it, especially if it spreads awareness and for future disasters like this.

Thank you for this article. I find it very frustrating trying explain this issue to people who quite frankly think I want to make things worse for the victims. I will be sharing this. Just a thought, could leaflets be distributed to people who you need to explain this to. I know it would be costly but may well be worth it, especially if it spreads awareness and for future disasters like this.

Belinda, you raise a number of very goods points. The balance that you have to get right in disaster relief operations taking time to conduct assessments versus getting out items to the people in need.

We don’t always get it right. In one operation after floods we handed out mosquito nets because there was concerns of the risk of malaria. What people did is use the mossie nets as fishing nets because they’d lost all of their fishing equipment and so their livelihood.

We have pre-trained teams with the tools and skills to go in a do rapid assessments and find out quickly what things people actually need. We will go back and and assess afterwards if what we gave out was the right stuff and what people wanted. By doing this over many many years we have become experienced and have been able to build up a stock us standard relief items that we hold in countries and regions around the world close to where disasters tend to happen. We will also audit the operations and conduct monitoring and evaluation visits.

The DEC is a group of 13 British charities and it if more effcient and effective for us to have one place for people to donate. The money will be shared out amongst these charities of which British Red Cross is one. So thank you so much for your donation.

Belinda, you raise a number of very goods points. The balance that you have to get right in disaster relief operations taking time to conduct assessments versus getting out items to the people in need.

We don’t always get it right. In one operation after floods we handed out mosquito nets because there was concerns of the risk of malaria. What people did is use the mossie nets as fishing nets because they’d lost all of their fishing equipment and so their livelihood.

We have pre-trained teams with the tools and skills to go in a do rapid assessments and find out quickly what things people actually need. We will go back and and assess afterwards if what we gave out was the right stuff and what people wanted. By doing this over many many years we have become experienced and have been able to build up a stock us standard relief items that we hold in countries and regions around the world close to where disasters tend to happen. We will also audit the operations and conduct monitoring and evaluation visits.

The DEC is a group of 13 British charities and it if more effcient and effective for us to have one place for people to donate. The money will be shared out amongst these charities of which British Red Cross is one. So thank you so much for your donation.

We had house building programmes in Indonesia and the Maldives after the Tsunami. We built tanks and pipes to restore clean water to villages after the earthquake in Pakistan. We rebuilt houses in villages in Bangladesh after Cyclone Sidr.

We will work to build the community in areas of disaster risk reduction, resilence and preparedness. This could be like the evacuation routes built in Banda Aceh in case of another Tsunami, training up first aiders, holding stocks of blankets and jerry cans for immediate distribution etc.

We will have a team working in Haiti to look at the best way to run a recovery programme. We will be there long after the cameras have gone and because of that we still need to raise more money to restore the lives of the Haitian people.

We had house building programmes in Indonesia and the Maldives after the Tsunami. We built tanks and pipes to restore clean water to villages after the earthquake in Pakistan. We rebuilt houses in villages in Bangladesh after Cyclone Sidr.

We will work to build the community in areas of disaster risk reduction, resilence and preparedness. This could be like the evacuation routes built in Banda Aceh in case of another Tsunami, training up first aiders, holding stocks of blankets and jerry cans for immediate distribution etc.

We will have a team working in Haiti to look at the best way to run a recovery programme. We will be there long after the cameras have gone and because of that we still need to raise more money to restore the lives of the Haitian people.

Sarah, if you want to gather good condition saleable items and donate to your local Red Cross shop, you can actually request that the goods are earmarked to the Haiti appeal and the money made from the sale of the goods will go to the people of Haiti. This is a BRILLIANT way of getting involved and really good way for us to raise money. I’ve got some fabulous items from the Red Cross shops over the years.

Sarah, if you want to gather good condition saleable items and donate to your local Red Cross shop, you can actually request that the goods are earmarked to the Haiti appeal and the money made from the sale of the goods will go to the people of Haiti. This is a BRILLIANT way of getting involved and really good way for us to raise money. I’ve got some fabulous items from the Red Cross shops over the years.

If they dont want a blanket or clothes then I won’t be donating. Some people have no money and just get by every month and all they have is a blanket to knit!
Frankly I find this whole donate to Haiti to be a bunch of ungrateful people.

If they dont want a blanket or clothes then I won’t be donating. Some people have no money and just get by every month and all they have is a blanket to knit!
Frankly I find this whole donate to Haiti to be a bunch of ungrateful people.

Lou, as I understand it (and please correct me Claire if I’ve got it wrong) blankets and clothes are welcome as donations at a Red Cross charity shop, where they can be sold to raise money for the appeal. It’s trying to donate them to be sent to Haiti that is counterproductive and unwelcome. I thought the post made it more than clear that it was in no way down to ingratitude.

Lou, as I understand it (and please correct me Claire if I’ve got it wrong) blankets and clothes are welcome as donations at a Red Cross charity shop, where they can be sold to raise money for the appeal. It’s trying to donate them to be sent to Haiti that is counterproductive and unwelcome. I thought the post made it more than clear that it was in no way down to ingratitude.

Hi Nick, you have understood correctly, that is exactly the point I was trying to make.

Lou, the people of Haiti do need blankets and clothes but it is quicker and cheaper for us to send in the blankets we already have in warehouses the country and in the region than it is to collect these from individuals in the UK and fly them out to Haiti.

Hi Nick, you have understood correctly, that is exactly the point I was trying to make.

Lou, the people of Haiti do need blankets and clothes but it is quicker and cheaper for us to send in the blankets we already have in warehouses the country and in the region than it is to collect these from individuals in the UK and fly them out to Haiti.

We have expired (or near expired) medicines that are useless to us. In fact, it costs us money to destroy them.

So we donate them to a charity. This enables us to have a tax deduction on the value of goods – and so effectively EARNS us money rather than COSTS us money.

The donation isn’t to help YOU. It is to help us.

The sooner you understand this the easier it will be for you to manage it.

The moment you give me an opportunity to increase my group’s profitability, I am basically obliged to use it.

Yes, it means your charity work gets hampered.

So your reaction needs to be to simple – ensure that there is it is no longer profitable for me to dumping my group’s waste on you. This can be done by ensure that the **true** value of what I donate is accurately reported to the tax authorities, rather than my calculated ‘value’. If my donation has a ‘value’ of -$1,0000 (because you need to destroy it) then ensure that the information is formally recorded both to my group and the tax authorities.

We have expired (or near expired) medicines that are useless to us. In fact, it costs us money to destroy them.

So we donate them to a charity. This enables us to have a tax deduction on the value of goods – and so effectively EARNS us money rather than COSTS us money.

The donation isn’t to help YOU. It is to help us.

The sooner you understand this the easier it will be for you to manage it.

The moment you give me an opportunity to increase my group’s profitability, I am basically obliged to use it.

Yes, it means your charity work gets hampered.

So your reaction needs to be to simple – ensure that there is it is no longer profitable for me to dumping my group’s waste on you. This can be done by ensure that the **true** value of what I donate is accurately reported to the tax authorities, rather than my calculated ‘value’. If my donation has a ‘value’ of -$1,0000 (because you need to destroy it) then ensure that the information is formally recorded both to my group and the tax authorities.

[…] with the principle that ‘anything is better than nothing’. Trust me, it’s not. Relieving suffering should be guided solely by need and not what people have to donate.” —Claire Durham at Red Cross Blog, on why cash is better than your janky, tattered old […]

How sad that you are not taking goods donations. Even if you don’t send these things on to Haiti, could they not be used in other areas, or given to local shelters or agencies to help others in need? Considering the economic times we are in many people cannot donate money, but they have things. It is for this reason that I will never donate money, goods, time, blood or anything else to the Red Cross. Your lack of gratitude for what people are willing to give is sickening.

How sad that you are not taking goods donations. Even if you don’t send these things on to Haiti, could they not be used in other areas, or given to local shelters or agencies to help others in need? Considering the economic times we are in many people cannot donate money, but they have things. It is for this reason that I will never donate money, goods, time, blood or anything else to the Red Cross. Your lack of gratitude for what people are willing to give is sickening.

[…] on the RedCrossBlog, Claire Durham has an interesting post on why non-cash donations are unhelpful. It seems important, given the continued willingness of people to send things that are less than […]

I’m sorry that you feel disheartened by the post. We are taking donations of saleable items (clothes, books, records, trinkets etc.) at Red Cross shops. These items can be earmarked for the Haiti fund so the money raised will directly help the Haitian people.

I’m a big fan of our shops and often buy clothes there, I am both amazed and delighted about the stuff that people donate. As you rightly point out people don’t always have money but they can donate goods.

The message I’m trying to spread is that we can’t send these donated goods directly to a disaster zone,and we can’t take things like expired medicines, obsolete equipment, or items that are not needed.

I hope this clarifies that it is not a lack of gratitude but just an explanation of the different routes that donations can be channelled.

why, when I donate a computer to a Red Cross Shop or The Salvation Army or Good Will do I never see it on the shelves for sale?

Do they have vendors that buy up all certain commodities? They should have a 24 hr junk store next door for broke people like me to sift through the raw-intake… All I see in the stores is high-dollar stuff.

I’m sorry that you feel disheartened by the post. We are taking donations of saleable items (clothes, books, records, trinkets etc.) at Red Cross shops. These items can be earmarked for the Haiti fund so the money raised will directly help the Haitian people.

I’m a big fan of our shops and often buy clothes there, I am both amazed and delighted about the stuff that people donate. As you rightly point out people don’t always have money but they can donate goods.

The message I’m trying to spread is that we can’t send these donated goods directly to a disaster zone,and we can’t take things like expired medicines, obsolete equipment, or items that are not needed.

I hope this clarifies that it is not a lack of gratitude but just an explanation of the different routes that donations can be channelled.

Very well put, and in a way that will hopefully get across to a lot of people. It also reminds of something I read a while back money being the unit of caring: http://lesswrong.com/lw/65/money_the_unit_of_caring/ – it might not feel very nice to look at it that way, but being aware of it is more likely to actually help instead of just feeling like your helping.

Very well put, and in a way that will hopefully get across to a lot of people. It also reminds of something I read a while back money being the unit of caring: http://lesswrong.com/lw/65/money_the_unit_of_caring/ – it might not feel very nice to look at it that way, but being aware of it is more likely to actually help instead of just feeling like your helping.

[…] it’s better to give money than goods. Such is the case for the Red Cross, who have posted an article on their blog saying just that. And after reading the article, I have to agree. While donating goods is nice, […]

Thankyou. I understand this from an emergency perspective. I suppose I am surprised that you pay frieght and charter for such enormous disasters. Couldnt there be a taxation related deduction that frieght and air companies could use, which would lighten the burden. Give them a tax deduction and allow much needed supplies to reach where they need to.

I also note, there are charities that have all their shops etc to help people – yet, the people who are supposed to recieve the outcomes of this get nothing due to administrative costs etc.. and the situation never changes. In some circumstances – help from others, giving directly works better.

Thankyou. I understand this from an emergency perspective. I suppose I am surprised that you pay frieght and charter for such enormous disasters. Couldnt there be a taxation related deduction that frieght and air companies could use, which would lighten the burden. Give them a tax deduction and allow much needed supplies to reach where they need to.

I also note, there are charities that have all their shops etc to help people – yet, the people who are supposed to recieve the outcomes of this get nothing due to administrative costs etc.. and the situation never changes. In some circumstances – help from others, giving directly works better.

[…] needed in Haiti relies on the established logistics and organisation of international aid agencies, this is why donations of cash are more useful than well meaning gifts of food, clothing or medicine, there are individuals and organisations with strong ideological convictions prepared to ignore the […]

Claire
One of my colleagues has gone to Haiti with the second wave of the German Red Cross relief effort. She has experience of similar relief efforts elsewhere in the world. We asked if there was anything she needed to take for the work, and she was able to identify some easily portable items that she would have found useful in previous relief work, which were unlikely to be available locally, and which she was able to carry in her personal backpack. We raised cash for these, and she took the balance of the cash with her for local procurement or donation to the funds. She also had the offer of stuff like expired medical items which were inappropriate and which she had to decline, but we felt we were donating stuff that would be needed and we knew was going to the heart of the relief effort directly.

Claire
One of my colleagues has gone to Haiti with the second wave of the German Red Cross relief effort. She has experience of similar relief efforts elsewhere in the world. We asked if there was anything she needed to take for the work, and she was able to identify some easily portable items that she would have found useful in previous relief work, which were unlikely to be available locally, and which she was able to carry in her personal backpack. We raised cash for these, and she took the balance of the cash with her for local procurement or donation to the funds. She also had the offer of stuff like expired medical items which were inappropriate and which she had to decline, but we felt we were donating stuff that would be needed and we knew was going to the heart of the relief effort directly.

Thanks so much for this. I have been on this band for years when asked to contribute to shoe-box filling projects, and its nice not to be the only one on the ‘soap box’!

Related to distribution issues I’d add (as a past development worker and now a teacher)when parents ask me why I can’t support shoe box (or similar) donation programs I tell them that they should imagine how awful it would be for their children if all the kids in the neighbourhood got a box of gifts, but when their child came forward there were none left. Then, what if the young children who did get the boxes became targets for bullies and worse because they had something others wanted in an extremely volatile situation?

Thanks for putting this out there. I’m sending this on to everyone I know 🙂

Thanks so much for this. I have been on this band for years when asked to contribute to shoe-box filling projects, and its nice not to be the only one on the ‘soap box’!

Related to distribution issues I’d add (as a past development worker and now a teacher)when parents ask me why I can’t support shoe box (or similar) donation programs I tell them that they should imagine how awful it would be for their children if all the kids in the neighbourhood got a box of gifts, but when their child came forward there were none left. Then, what if the young children who did get the boxes became targets for bullies and worse because they had something others wanted in an extremely volatile situation?

Thanks for putting this out there. I’m sending this on to everyone I know 🙂

[…] order to ship thousands of miles away. Back in January, right after the Haiti earthquake, I read a blog post on the United Kingdom’s Red Cross blog that described the problem. I encourage you to read the whole post but I offer you some of the more […]

though something is better than nothing , this do not work in situations like Haiti as there are chances to harm people. If we need to do that anyway then we will do this easily by creating a community and after that get necessary steps to follow on.

why, when I donate a computer to a Red Cross Shop or The Salvation Army or Good Will do I never see it on the shelves for sale?

Do they have vendors that buy up all certain commodities? They should have a 24 hr junk store next door for broke people like me to sift through the raw-intake… All I see in the stores is high-dollar stuff.

The Caiman Haiti Foundation invites you to join his effort to rebuild the lives of the Haitian people. We are reaching out to you and other potential donors with the hope that you will make a charitable donation so that we can continue Gabriel’s mission to offer much-needed relief to Haiti.

In order to achieve our goals, we have developed the program: “Securing a Change in Haiti.” Contributions to this program will be used to purchase food, medical supplies, and educational materials. It will also pay for the distribution of clothing and shoe donations and to establish an after-school program. Aside from finacial support we also welcome in-kind donations of school supplies.

Please understand that the Haitian people desperately need your help – they are literally at the brink of despair. Your generous support will give them much needed hope. As the Caiman Haiti Foundation continues its work in Haiti, we will send you periodic updates of our progress.